A passerby stops to look at signs showing President Obama alongside Senegalese President Macky Sall in Dakar, Senegal, on June 26, 2013. / Rebecca Blackwell, AP

by Jennifer Lazuta, Special for USA TODAY

by Jennifer Lazuta, Special for USA TODAY

DAKAR, Senegal - Posters plastered with President Obama's smiling face and U.S. flags flapping in the warm ocean breeze lined the main routes into Senegal's capital city on Thursday.

Obama arrived in Senegal as part of a three-country visit to Africa on Wednesday night and residents in the West African country were on hand Thursday to offer him a warm welcome, with many taking to the streets to watch the president's motorcade drive past.

"I'm not sure if it will happen but I hope to see President Obama waving to me as he drives by," said Mamadou Ndiaye, a taxi driver in Dakar. "It is such an honor, knowing that he is coming to my country."

But Obama used a news conference at the presidential palace on Thursday morning with Senegal's President Macky Sall to address issues squarely on his domestic agenda.

He said that Wednesday's Supreme Court's rulings on gay marriage were a victory not just for gays and lesbians but for American democracy. He said different customs and religious beliefs must be respected in different countries, but states and laws should treat everyone equally.

"I believe at the root of who we are as a people as Americans is the basic ... (idea) that we are all equal under the law," he said. "We believe in basic fairness, and what I think yesterday's ruling signifies is one more step toward ensuring that those basic principles apply to everybody."

Sall said Senegal is not ready to decriminalize homosexuality.

Obama also said he won't engage in "wheeling, dealing and trading" to get Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor accused of espionage, extradited to the USA. "I'm not going to be scrambling jets to get to a 29-year-old hacker," he said.

Obama sent his thoughts and prayers to Nelson Mandela, calling the ailing anti-apartheid leader his "personal hero." Mandela, former president of South Africa, is critically ill and hospitalized in Pretoria. Obama visits South Africa on Friday as part of his three-country tour, but he will not visit Mandela.

"He's a personal hero, but I don't think I'm unique in that regard," Obama said. "I think he's a hero for the world. And if and when he passes from this place, one thing I think we'll all know is that his legacy is one that will linger on throughout the ages."

Later Thursday, Obama will take a trip to Gorée Island - the largest slave trading post in Africa from the 15th to 19th centuries. He will then attend an official dinner hosted by Sall.

The visit to Gorée Island is expected to be a particularly significant part of the trip for Obama and his family as it marks an important site for both Africans and African-Americans as the home of the House of Slaves, where men, women and children were kept in small cells before being shipped off to the Americas.

As well as the thousands of African Americans who come to Gorée each year to honor their ancestors, the island has previously been visited by former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, as well as former South African President Nelson Mandela.

Many visitors say they find the House of Slaves and its museum to be in sharp contrast to the brightly colored, if now slightly decaying homes, which still line Gorée's quiet, picturesque streets.

Senegal is the first stop on Obama's week-long visit to Africa, where he will also make a stopover in South Africa and Tanzania. The visit to the West African francophone country gives Obama the opportunity to engage with the French-speaking population of Africa.

Little more than a year on from electoral violence surrounding former president Abdoulaye Wade's attempt at a power grab, Obama's visit comes as a reward to the country that analysts say has made definitive steps toward democracy.

"With Tanzania and Senegal, he's trying to underscore the importance the U.S. attaches to good governance and democracy and both of these are solid democracies," said Jennifer Cooke, director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Locals say that while that may be so, they still need help.

"Obama's visit brings so much hope to our country," said history professor Frederic Bassen, 33. "His visit is a very good thing for Senegal because we are in a phase of democratization. We need help from countries like America to promote democracy here and we hope that he can help us with the advancement of democracy and the fight against corruption."

Others said they were simply pleased to be the country chosen by the American president to visit on his first extended trip to sub-Saharan Africa, the continent that claims him as a native son.

"I can't wait to see President Obama," said Fatou Cisse, 27. "His visit means so much for our country. I am so proud he chose to come here."